Okay so this is a “cheap meld” which leaves 4 GP uncapped. Does it really matter? No, not really. It’s very very expensive to cap this requiring an overmelded V and two IV’s to work out. All in all if you want to be “maxed out” on GP, consider replacing the perception melds in the suggestion above. Ultimately, everyone has their own budget but the meld I suggested has many good points.

Ring: Ironworks Ring of Gathering
I HAVE 2 MELDS IN THE TABLE ABOVE

Of those two melds, I like the the one that utilizes GAT V simply because they will be a little less in demand compared to PER V. It’s up to prices on the day you meld, anyhow.

It’s a painless meld that caps with a single V and not even an over-melded IV. Great!

Is Red Scrip Augmented Keep set worth it for DoL?

tldr no, except for fillers. If you’re swimming in Red Scrip might as well get weapon for a filler. Shirt is a far second. It doesn’t help that this set is class-specific… yuck.

ANY and FREE represent melds that you can or should save in case any thresholds appear in the next tier. They are likely irrelevant in 3.3.

If any stat “tresholds” appear for rotations, this will be updated.

Craftin BiS Notes

***Stat summary is WITHOUT the ANY or FREE melds, and as you can see is more than enough stats for a baseline set in preparation for the next tier, with enough open melds to be able to compensate for any tresholds that may come.

Weapon? GET EITHER ONE, seriously. Both are a significant upgrade to the previous tiers weapon. Of course, they still aren’t equal.

FRESH OFF THE BAT: Augmented Keep is slightly better.
WITH MELDS: Crafted of course, comes out ahead.

So this all depends on your budget and red scrip amount. Personally? I’ll pick up crafted.

Earring? Bracer? Necklace? If you have a GODLIKE ASTRAL BIRCH ACCESSORY – use it. Otherwise, “not so tryhard” melding these is okay if you’re coming in with anything lower.

They aren’t “practical to cap” I listed that as ANY / FREE above. But they are cappable as of now using the below meld:

Capping Earring Bracer:
CON V – CRA V – CP IV – CP IV – CON II

Augmented Keep set? Worth it?

While an upgrade is an upgrade, I highly advise AGAINST getting any of these unless you are absolutely swimming with red scrip. EVEN THEN I WOULD ONLY CONSIDER THE CHEST PIECE.

The non-universal nature of this set is really a pain in the butt.

The Ironworks Crafting chest requires a bit of an investment for it to beat the Augmented Keep chest, but the pros heavily outweigh the cons. You can buy some chests for the core classes while gearing up, but don’t invest into any other piece.

Suggested melds for “ANY V” and “FREE”?

Again these are HIGHLY dependent on stat tresholds and budget. But at the very least SUREMELDS should be considered.

Control? Every bit of CON helps.

CP? Again, every bit helps.

Craftmanship? This purely depends on tresholds, and

So you can’t be sad if you stick CON V and CAP CP on each piece you can. And just try to cram in Craftmanship later on if you need it.

Again, it’s impossible to recommend a general scenario for everyone.

Core crafting reminders for 3.3

The MOOGLE BEAST TRIBE QUEST LINE Rewards DoH Materia! This starts out in Churning Mists:

Tricks and Stones

Disciple of the Hand level 50

The Churning Mists (X:27.2 Y:34.5)
NPC: Seething Stonemason

Players must first complete the main scenario quest “Into the Aery” and the quest “Laying the First Brick.”

Unless I’m mistaken, there seems to be a chunky amount of pre-requisite sidequests so good luck with that sir. I don’t know if the high level dailies give V’s, but the latter Rank Up quests do, so that’s worth it in any case.

Well that’s about it for Crafting BiS changes in this patch. Thank the heavens that they gave us a solid universal set!!!

So the cosmos have guided you home – back home to the grind for gear! If you’re looking AST BiS for 3.3 you’ve found well! Here, you can find three options for the AST BiS…

Note: It goes without saying that -Diurnal will be almost identical to WHM BiS, Nocturnal will be almost identical to SCH BiS. So if you follow that “Classic mindset” you can check those out. However, in this page I will be talking about the DET focused set.

3.3 Notes: Aside from filler gear, the only thing that affects BiS is Relic – Sphere of the Last Heir. While melding may depend on your main stance, PIE is always a good idea, followed by DET if you adhere to this pages’ ideology.

AST BiS Discussion

Again if you follow the classic Diurnal=WHM, Nocturnal=SCH you can check their respective BiS pages with the only chain being the weapon.

Diurnal: Augmented Hailstorm Astrometer

Nocturnal: Prototype Midan Metal Astrometer

Click on the tabs below – “Determination?” and “Gear Discussion”

Why DeterminationGear Options & Discussion

This page isn’t just about being cute and different. The set offers power and consistency beyond the usual AST setups.

I don’t like crit stacked Nocturnal AST. Let’s get that out of the way. Hoping for a crit shield is never ever a habit you should form, or better yet, never a situation you find yourself in often (It’s likely a tank or healer error if that’s the case). I’m not too sold on SS stacked Diurnal, either. The base stance bonus is much larger than you’d think.

Piety is still the most important stat for either sect, though, and this set reflects that. Without Assize or Energy Drain, AST’s only have ONE MAIN REPLENISHER OF MANA – Lumineferous Aether (+Celestial Opposition Extension, which should always be used). More Piety means less reliance on Ewer, and in effect more cards meant for raid efficiency – given how Royal Road on Ewer is the amazing AoE effect.

Why Determination? DET DIRECTLY COUNTERS AST’s downside which is “slightly weaker heals”. Yes, I understand crit does this too – but not as consistently as DET does. The problem with AST is the RNG reliant gameplay, and I DO NOT want to compound that with crit! So this set takes care of both the “weak” and “random” weakpoints of AST.

But still, after all that following either WHM BiS or SCH BiS is A-OK and I’m sure its A8S clearable. The power level of both setups definitely have their ups and downs.

There’s some discussion here, but the core remains… after all, the set is full of linear power – boasting 800+ DET and 1000+ Piety. Damn.

Melding Strategy can be changed if you’re the “DPS-er” in your healing duo. A lot of healers may tell you that CRIT is the most important stat for DPSing – this is false. Accuracy and Piety are the most stable DPS stats Since our set is packed in Piety – you can Meld accuracy to your hearts content!

Flex slots? There’s only a small bit of wiggle room in gear choices:

Augmented Hailstorm Bottoms of Healing: Is a legit swap for more DET, but sadly comes with SS which has indeterminate usefulness… depends on which stance you main and your co-healer class/dynamic. You do lose a hefty chunk of Piety, though.

Bracelet -another mindless swap. SS or Crit. Retains Piety. No loss in DET.Gloves – Same story, the list above use one of each variant.

AST Lore Tomestone Buy Order

The tome spending strat below is to obtain BiS fastest:

Weapon: good “filler” until you down A8S. Meld PIE I guess.

Be mindful you need to time it with Hypercharged Tomestone

Body: Obvious second buy as any comparable Ilvl is from A8S

Hand: is “Equal to Midan”, but I guess just pick this up to save pages.

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS

“what should AST’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is something I get asked often so here it is. This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

M1N

M2N

M3N

M4N

Week 1

chain

lens

spring

spring

Week 2

bolt

lens

spring

spring

Week 3

pedal

pedal

crank

crank

Week 4

bolt

bolt

any

any (shaft)

Why avoid chest? Yes it has massive DET, but alas, this early on in the tier (and it’s gonna be replaced by Lore Chest very very quickly) PIE would be the smarter choice. Bolts -> Midan Ring > Midan Bracelet > Any

W5 and up – ANY.

Click the above!!!

AST Crafted Gear Viability

So we can quickly update all BiS pages, I wont discuss every detail just yet. But of course, the above will fulfill 90% of your needs. I usually update this later on…

So you haven’t been disheartened by Manipulator & Co! You’re back for more Robots in 3.3! If you’re trying to find the WHM BiS for 3.3 you’ve come to the right place! (Or a valid data point at the very least!)

3.3 Notes: The only relevant changes to BiS are the possibility to use the relic – Cane of the White Tsar. Stats? Well, you can’t go wrong with PIE. SS and ACC are also good, too.

WHM BiS Discussion

Weapon? Honestly I don’t know if the 5 ilvls of Midan beats out Augmented or Relic. Personally, I’d be more than happy with the latter. I really don’t like crit, as you may know.

Why so much Piety? Piety is the most STABLE WHM STAT. Legit, it is the ONLY STAT that directly helps you in progression. Again, as most healers already know if you’re maxed out on iLvl, secondary stats don’t really matter. However, for pure power and the steps of reaching this point – Piety is the sole stat that will universally help you to reach “godhood”. The only reason you’d drop PIE is for niche reasons like absolute speed-running.

But I wanna deeps! Of all the healers, WHM has the poorest DPS efficiency with stifling mana costs and no sure-hit skills. As such PIE is still needed to an extent. What’s the best DPS stat? Crit fanboys will tell you crit, but that’s untrue. It’s ACCURACY!

There’s not much to discuss about this tiers WHM BiS. All slots have Piety except the ring, and there’s no suitable substitute.

Boots? Don’t really matter. You can use either boots and still be happy. It’s a direct tradeoff of SS or DET.

Lessen Piety? The easiest substitutes would be switching the pants and chest (Using: Midan Chest of Healing and Augmented Hailstorm Legs). You can also replace any and all PIE melds to SS, DET or ACC. It’s better to have too much mana and adjust your build, rather than too little and regret.

To anyone that doubts PIE, I cleared A4S with zero ballad using sac strat far below ilvl 210. That includes many solo-healing phases.

If you’re a fan of Crit, or put massive importance to any other substat than PIE (SS and DET are good for me, but it’s a far second from Piety) then this isn’t the BiS list for you.

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS

“what should WHM’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is something I get asked often so here it is

This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

Week

M1N

M2N

M3N

M4N

W1

pedal

lens

spring

spring

W2

pedal

lens

spring

spring

W3

chain

bolt

crank

crank

W4

bolt

bolt

any

any

W5 and up – ANY.

This avoids the chest (sucky stats), and rushes the legs (great stats). allowing you to get the Weapon > Chest from Lore at week 5 – covering all major body pieces. It also fills most body pieces by week 3.

Click the above!!!

WHM Crafted Gear Viability

In order to facilitate the speedy update of all BiS pages, I will not discuss every detail just yet. But of course, the info here will encompass 90% of your needs. I usually update this later on…

SCH BiS Discussion

Crit > Pie > Det > SSis pretty clear cut for most Scholars out there. Sadly, the gear we’re given in this patch forces quite a bit of SS on us.

A more stable evolution and one I prefer more (as noted in the table above) is to change up the Body and Earring to –

Augmented Hailstorm Coat of Healing

Augmented Primal Earrings of Healing

Lose Crit (BAD), Lose SS (GOOD)

Gain DET (GOOD), Gain Piety (GOOD)

So as we see from the above, the swaps result in 2 GOODS vs 1 BAD 1 GOOD, which is a gain IF YOU DON’T WANNA STACK CRIT LIKE A MADMAN. (In this case the tradeoff is justifiable, man!)

Accuracy Melds? Are totally legit. It’s the premiere DPS stat for healers (Piety probably second…), then of course CRIT for SCH. Given this factoid Melding Accuracy in all gear is OK, and probably gonna be a popular choice.

I know it’s massively unpopular – but I myself highly value DET on SCH. If this belief is more widespread than I think, please comment so I can add a tab for that.

SCH Lore Tomestone Buy Order

Weapon: Is a decent “filler”, and gives the most bang for buck…

But you have to time it with the Hypercharged Tomestone, so you’ll likely go further down the list before actually buying weapon.

Helm: Getting leftside first, with the hardest to obtain being top priority.

Hand: –

Belt: This marks the end of left-side.

Ring: Since we’re likely stuck with a 210~

Neck: Marks the end of all Lore buyable BiS.

Everything ELSE IS OPTIONAL! The next best things are Body, Earring for the swap mentioned above. After than Complete Leftside > Rightside.

Come back to prove that magic beats machinery in 3.2? Thanks for checking out out 3.2 BLM BiS! If it was a little unclear to anyone last time – it’s damn certain NOW: Spell Speed is king. Shoutout to our BLM Bazu Zhilei.

Quicknotes: SS is the undoubted emperor of stats for Black Mages – if you disagree, this is not the BiS for you.

BLM BiS Discussion

1100+ Spell Speed – I can end the discussion with that.

So why not crit? So here’s how it works SS works better the more of it you have – hands down. In an extreme example, you only need a few points of SS to decrease cast time from 0.2 to 0.1 – that’s a 100% DPS increase (in this unrealistic but easy to understand scenario).

But crit works better when stacked, too? Yes it does, but not as good as SS with for BLM – since they have an infinite resource it’s all about getting as many fire cycles as you can in a fight or phase, NOT about getting the most damage per skill you do.

SS also increases your safety by a large margin – a stat that CRIT simply cannot emulate in any way shape or form. KEEPING your ENO, squeezing MORE from LEYLINES, moving out of danger AoE faster – there’s countless immeasurable bonuses SS grants to any BLM.

As for the gear there’s very little to discuss in this patch. Does it have SS? Wear it. None? Accuracy. It was a brainless process to reach this point.

Accuracy Cap? You need 6x ACC V’s to cap – 7 without food.

Creme Brulee vs Marron Glace? Is honestly a non-issue. You have to meld an extra ACCV to cover for the loss of Marron Glace. It’s maybe… MAYBE better by around 0.0004%. maybe. But the cost? Secretly, many of us care about how expensive Creme Brulee can be :)

At this point I’m just reaching into the void for more discussion points. Unupgraded Ring, while tempting – is likely a DPS loss. but again, if you’re an SS freak go for it… it’s another “Decimal” change, man.

BLM Lore Tomestone Buy Order

The lore tomestone spending order is to get BiS fastest:

Weapon: is priority but you may not have the hypercharged tome. Just go down the list for a bit while you wait.

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS

“what should BLM’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is a common question, so here it is! This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

BLM

M1N

M2N

M3N

M4N

Week 1

chain

lens

lens

shaft

Week 2

bolt

pedal

crank

shaft

Week 3

bolt

pedal

crank

shaft

Week 4

bolt

bolt

ANY

shaft

Getting pants is our priority with lore so we avoid it here. Shaft, while stats aren’t bad – it’s more of a concession to Midan Chest BiS and us having to use a filler for quite some time. This takes care of most left-side pieces to assist in survivability. Bolts? Ring > Earring > Any. Week5+ ANY.

Click the above!!!

BLM Crafted Gear Viability

To be updated later on to make all other BiS pages. 90% of info you’re here for is here already anyways.

Back again to deliver the pain to deez goblins again I see? Welcome to the 3.2 WAR BiS! If for some reason you were hiding under a rock… – as of 3.2 tanks stack VITALITY! Thanks to Claes Henrietta for the help!

Quicknotes: Warrior BiS is an iteration of the PLD “Basic tank” set – the WAR BiS will account for the minimum 590 Skill Speed!

WAR BiS Discussion

590 Skillspeed: Is the minimum needed SS for optimal rotation, (616+ to be safe). Which this set applies. The PLD BiS is the baseline for any tank set, and this set if merely modification of it, only changes being:

Earrings, to get some more SS (and puts us above ACC CAP)

Melding, wherein many DET melds become SS.

Thankfully, we don’t lose ANY crit at all to accomodate SS (But loses some DET and Parry, which is a pretty value change).

Why STRENGTH melded in accessories? Yes, 3.2 is all about VIT on tanks – BUT that doesn’t mean STR is WORTHLESS. In fact, it still EASILY beats any secondary stat in terms of DPS (Crit, DET, SS). So we maximize this by melded STR when we can – in this case, only Accessories.

Accuracy isn’t a problem in this set, unlike the PLD set which requires a minor tweak depending on preference.

Ultimately the Warrior BiS is pretty amazing, with only a tiny percentage of “wasted” stats (A tiny bit of parry and accuracy). Thankfully, with the exception of melds – the difference is just ONE item (and weapon).

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS

“what should WAR’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is a common question, so here it is! This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

WAR

M1N

M2N

M3N

M4N

Week 1

chain

lens

spring

shaft

Week 2

bolt

lens

spring

shaft

Week 3

bolt

bolt

spring

shaft

Week 4

bolt

any

spring

shaft

We avoid pedals (for BOOTS) since we pick that up with Lore ASAP. We also cannot get hands in a timely manner since we’re going for both legs and chest – so you can get gloves in Week 5. Otherwise, this method get ALL major body pieces quite fast.

Click the above!!!

WAR Crafted Gear Viability

As I said up top, going for quicker notes so I can update all BiS pages, will be going back for this on the second pass.

So your 1 key hasn’t worn out yet and you’re back to being a “Robot Sympathizer” which isn’t too popular with the Eorzeans! Thankfully, MCH got some pretty beefy buffs – so GL getting your 3.2 MCH BiS! Thanks to Tiffany Faye for the help!

Quicknotes: Of course, is very similar to BRD BiS. The most glaring difference I can tell you is that SS is absolutely garbage for MCH.

So with that, we’re stuck. You may not like it, but we HAVE NO CHOICE.

Why not use Midan Body? It has CRIT! Well, there’s this other stat that’s slightly more important that Crit sometimes – it’s called ACCURACY. The 50~ Crit lost from body more than makes up for the tons of accuracy WE ACTUALLY NEED. It’s just a 50~ point loss, shh bby is ok.

B-but Mahiko Senpai, the piece I bought dropped the next week! Don’t blame me. Blame yourself, or God. Not “God Mahiko”, just God. Or yourself.

Midan Normal Parts

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS

“what should MCH’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is a common question, so here it is! This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

MCH

M1N

M2N

M3N

M4N

Week 1

chain

bolt

spring

spring

Week 2

pedal

pedal

spring

spring

Week 3

bolt

lens

crank

crank

Week 4

bolt

bolt

lens

ANY

So we’re avoiding body here since we’re picking up lore ASAP. Every other body piece is pure value and will serve you as far as A8S! The stats are surprisingly great. BOLTS = Ring > Neck > Any. Week 5+ ANY.

Click the above!!!

MCH Crafted Gear Viability

I’ll be updating this in the second pass just so I can finish more BiS pages asap. 90% of the info you’ll need is already here, though.

Reason 3) Scaling: Now that you have an SS req, and you’re forced to get quite a bit of it via gear… why not go all in? DET doesn’t scale at all, and SS gets better the more of it you have- so why not? Then “On-crit SS+” is massive… so this is another scaling property of SS on summoner.

B-b-b-ut STAT WEIGHTS?! I honestly feel DET is overrated and SS underrated with SMN. I don’t 100% buy into numerical stat weights when it comes to classes with speed-stat requirements. SS it at the very least EQUAL to DET – And even this guy seems to think so.

So if SS is “equal” to det or close to it… why not go for the SCALING stat? It’s pure madness to pile on det when you have a choice to pile on SS.

And as always SS have the upper hand in terms of being the only stat that allows you to fight raid mechanics and latency easier, and helps out with movement and botched rotations – DET cannot do this.

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS for SMN

“what should SMN’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is a common question, so here it is! This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

SMN

M1N

M2N

M3N

M4N

Week 1

Chain

pedal

Lens

Shaft

Week 2

Bolt

pedal

Lens

Shaft

Week 3

Bolt

bolt

Crank

Shaft

Week 4

Bolt

any

Crank

Shaft

This setup is pretty simple. It prioritizes pieces you won’t be getting with lore (Body, Head) then picks up fillers by reversing the lore order. Week 5+? Any.

Bolts? Ring > Neck > Earring > Any

Click the above!!!

SMN Crafted Gear Viability

Is this even needed with all the free gear? 90% of info you need regarding BiS is listed above – I’ll update all the crafteds when I can…

NIN BiS Discussion

The BiS is quite intuitive this time around and it basically builds itself. Nearly every piece with crit is used with the exception of Midan Body.

Midan Body isn’t too big of a loss since we actually need the accuracy from its counterpart. Midan Body also has SS so the 88 Crit (while sorely missed) is something we just cannot afford to dip our greedy hands into.

Even with the Mudra Changes, SS is still pretty bad. It’s main function is a garbage stat that you’re forced upon cause you have no choice in gear selection.

The Augmented Torrent Kris is an amazing “filler”. Not all classes can say their lore weapon stands up as a near equal to the Midan Counterpart but Ninjas have that luxury. Besides, not everyone will be able to clear A8S asap.

There’s not much else to say here. Un-upgraded Ring may provide less than 0.3% DPS increase but is overall a bit of a hassle, and has problems scaling into greater content (so adjusting your gear to this may not be the best idea IE more ACC Melds)

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS for NIN

“what should NIN’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is a common question, so here it is! This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

NIN

M1N

M2N

M3N

M4N

Week 1

chain

pedal

Spring

Spring

Week 2

bolt

pedal

Spring

Spring

Week 3

bolt

lens

lens

crank

Week 4

bolt

bolt

ANY

crank

This setup is perfect! We avoid body for 2 reasons, the stats are nightmarishly bad, and we’re picking up lore body ASAP anyway. I don’t know what else to say except that you get all important gear pieces in 4 weeks. Head and Belt are extraordinarily good fillers.

BOLTS = Ring > Neck > Any. Week 5+ ANY.

Click the above!!!

NIN Crafted Gear Viability

I’ll update this later on so I can finish all the other BiS lists. Pretty much 90% of what ‘yer lookin’ for is here already anyways.